South Korea confirmed its first case of bird flu for more than a month today to dash hopes it had seen the last of an epidemic that has ravaged poultry flocks and killed 24 people across Asia.
The outbreak - discovered at the weekend at a chicken farm near Seoul - was the first new case since February 5th, and 16,000 poultry birds at the affected farm were destroyed yesterday, the agriculture ministry said.
Officials kept up the cull today, scrambling to pick up live birds, stuff them in bags and then hit the sacks with spades. The bags were then being buried on a nearby mountainside.
The aim is to destroy 400,000 chickens and ducks within a two-mile radius of the affected farm, officials said.
Agriculture Minister Huh Sang-man visited the area today and called for thorough disinfection to contain the outbreak, the ministry said in a statement.
Farms within a radius of 19 miles to 25 miles would be checked twice a day for new outbreaks.